The Infinite Cycle
by 1358456
Summary: Once again, Gold is trying to convince Crystal to give him a chance. After so many rejections, Crystal gives him an opportunity. Prove to her that he can be mature and worthy for a single week. But of course, that's easier said than done… Completed.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first standalone short story! All Dex Holders may appear, and the temporal gaps between the arcs after Emerald have been compressed to keep the age gap minimal.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1:

Violet City, Johto, 11 am…

Gold and Emerald peeked out of the thick bush, carefully spying on the meeting happening near the ponds in the northern half of the city.

"You got everything, right?" Emerald asked in a whisper.

"Of course," Gold replied in a whisper as well. "I learned to be prepared from Super Serious Gal, after all."

The two boys quietly crept from cover to cover, hiding in bushes or behind thick trees, getting closer and closer to "the meeting".

"Alright, there it is," Gold said with a grin, seeing a handful of people moving around in the _target zone_.

Someone suddenly dropped behind the two boys and tapped their shoulders, making them jump in surprise.

"Hey, guys," came a feminine voice. "What're you two doing here? The last I checked, this was a girls' meeting."

Gold and Emerald quickly spun around and saw Sapphire with her hands on her hips. The two boys glanced at the female Dex Holders' meeting and sighed in relief as no one noticed their presence. Emerald grabbed the girl by her wrist and yanked her down so that she'd crouch behind the thick bush as well.

"Damn, Sapphire," he said with a sigh, relieved that no one else noticed yet. "You surprised the crap out of me."

"Uh-huh. But seriously, what're you doing here?" Sapphire asked, crossing her arms.

"Shhh," Gold said in a whisper. "We're trying to… have some fun here."

"That's the target, right there," Emerald said, pointing at Y, who was sitting on a bench next to the pond while happily eating an apple. "With that _bright_ pink shirt, she's impossible to miss."

"… Guys, leave her alone," Sapphire said, despite sounding and looking intrigued at what was going to happen. "I mean, she's just eating an apple. Look how innocent she is. Why are you even targeting her anyways?"

"Payback," Emerald answered. "She ratted us out last week."

"But that's because you two dumped a bucket of ice water on her in the middle of the night!" Sapphire argued.

" _That_ was because she ratted us out the week before!" Gold replied, keeping his voice down.

"… But… that was because you guys dug a pitfall trap right in front of her summer home!" Sapphire argued again.

"And _that_ was because she ratted us out a couple weeks prior," Emerald said in a whisper.

Sapphire frowned as she thought. "So… this is a never ending cycle. You guys keep pulling pranks on her, and she tells on you and because of that, so you guys pull more pranks on her as revenge."

"I suppose," Emerald admitted. "But… Payback is payback."

Gold nodded. "And so the cycle begins again. Now hush." He took out a slingshot and slowly crept to a better position. " _The silent and clever hunter Gold stalks his prey_ ," he said, mimicking the accent that's common to narrators of these kinds of documentaries. He remained hidden behind a large bush while Sapphire and Emerald took cover next to a large tree. " _Hiding in the refuge of a thick bush, the hunter slowly takes aim_." Gold took a small ball and used it as the slingshot ammo, taking aim at Y.

"What's that?" Sapphire asked quietly, pointing at the small ball.

"Just a small water balloon," Emerald answered. "We don't want to do any real damage, after all."

Gold stretched the slingshot elastic to its maximum and aimed at Y's head. The girl remained blissfully unaware and continued to happily eat the apple, taking large bites, enough to fill her cheeks and happily munched away.

" _Will he hit the target? Will he miss it? Only time will tell_ ," Gold whispered, still mimicking the accent. " _But one thing is certain. There is an audience cheering him on_."

On cue, Sapphire and Emerald made a silent "woo" to mimic a cheer.

Gold fired. The small water balloon flew straight towards Y's head, but… flew just over, almost making contact with her hat. The balloon hit the water with a splash, and Y quickly looked over to see what the splash was about.

"… _F*ck_ ," Gold whispered in the accent. "… _He thinks to himself_ … _"F*ck… I missed. … Sh*t," he muses…_ "

Sapphire clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle a laugh while Emerald just snickered silently. Gold glared at both of them before focusing on his victim once more.

" _There is a strange noise coming from the nearby beasts,_ " he said in the accent. " _Even the wild beasts are laughing at the clever hunter. But he will show them. Oh, yes he will. He still has the prey in his sights, and with the second shot, he will surely get the critical headshot needed to restore his pride._ "

Gold fired the second shot. But Y had moved slightly to the left, causing the water balloon to miss yet again. Y finally realized that the shots were coming from behind her and swiveled around, staring at the bushes to see if she can detect anything.

"Damn it all," Gold growled angrily. He quickly calmed himself and resumed the narration. " _… He mutters. "Damn. Crap. Sh*t," he curses. The hunter now only has one shot remaining. Can he nail the critical shot when the prey is aware of him?_ "

"No," Sapphire whispered after another snicker. "Looks like _the hunter_ messed this up," she taunted, mimicking the accent.

"Shut it," Gold warned with another growl. Sapphire stuck out her tongue at him and resumed watching the disaster unfold.

"Someone's coming," Emerald said as he lowered himself more towards the ground to stay hidden.

Gold quickly fired the third shot. The shot flew straight towards Y once again, heading for her forehead. But Y saw the shot coming and ducked, dodging the water balloon. … But she didn't realize that Blue was behind her, having come to investigate why exactly Y was… "dancing" right in front of the pond. The water balloon that missed the Kalos Dex Holder nailed Blue right on the nose and exploded. Blue staggered backwards from the sudden burst of water, and accidentally stepped off the land and fell right into the pond.

" _Oops,_ " Gold whispered in the accent. " _… "Uh oh," he mutters, as he quickly realizes that he had royally f*cked it up…_ "

"Abort!" Emerald hastily whispered. "Run for your lives!"

Sapphire took a nervous gulp as she realized that she may now be considered as an accomplice to Gold instead of a mere bystander. Gold quickly searched through his pockets for something that may help in this situation as Blue rose out of the pond like a ghost and stepped onto land, glaring in the direction of the 3 Dex Holders.

" _The hunter quickly searches his inventory,_ " Gold whispered, taking out all sorts of random stuff from his pockets. " _The third shot had accidentally nailed the nearby demon. He now must find a way to calm her, or he will face a fate far, far worse than death._ "

Blue's eyes twitched as she began to approach the suspicious bush.

" _The demon rapidly approaches. The hunter must now flee for his life_ ," Gold whispered as he began to scramble away.

Sapphire and Emerald cast a worried glance at each other before they followed their senior, crawling on all four limbs to get away from Blue as fast as possible.

Gold suddenly stopped scrambling when someone stomped on the ground right in front of him. He looked at the foot on the ground and slowly followed up. The black-striped long white socks that reached mid-thigh, a little bit of the thigh exposed between the socks and the black/yellow shorts, the rather tight-fitting pink shirt…

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here," Crystal said as she crossed her arms.

"… _The hunter has been flanked by a monster_ ," Gold muttered, sensing impending doom. " _The… hunter has become the hunted. … Clever girl…_ Ow!"

…

"… This is all your fault," Sapphire growled to Gold, while remaining on her knees with her hands held high above her head.

"No one told you to stick around," Gold said while in the same position.

"At least you dropped that stupid accent," Sapphire said.

"You didn't think it was stupid until after we got caught. So fickle." Gold looked over to the side where Crystal was being scolded by Blue. "Well, it looks like all sorts of people are getting in trouble. Such troublemakers. Tsk, tsk."

Sapphire growled and promptly whacked her senior on the back of the head.

"Hey, ow!" Gold yelped. "I'm telling. I'm your _senior_ , remember?"

Sapphire was about to retort when Crystal walked over. The Hoenn girl quickly lowered her head to appear innocent.

"Can't you guys just… spend a _week_ without getting into trouble?" Crystal asked with a sigh. She glared at Gold and put her hands on her hips. "Or rather, can't _you_ spend a week without getting anyone else in trouble as well?"

"Oh, I do try, Crys," Gold said with a grin. "But maybe if I had a _little_ more incentive…" He cast a quick glance over at Sapphire. "And by the way, that Wildchild Girl keeps hitting me. But I can't fight back, you know? I mean, I am her senior and all."

Sapphire cast him a deadly glare, but Gold just grinned at her. Crystal let out a sigh and rubbed her temples.

"Sapphire… I'll have to talk to you after this," she said tiredly. "But Gold… what _incentive_ could possibly get you to behave and set a good example for the juniors?"

"Maybe _you_ can help me," Gold said with a grin.

Crystal quickly caught on. "Oh, no. No. That's not going to happen." She tapped her foot for a moment to think about something before she shook her head. "I'll think of a suitable punishment for you. And Sapphire, come with me."

Sapphire gulped nervously and slowly rose to her feet. Once Crystal turned away, the Hoenn Dex Holder quickly glared at Gold and mouthed out a swear word.

"Oh, Crys!" Gold called out. "Wildchild Girl just said-"

"Hey! Shut it!" Sapphire yelled out hastily.

"Sapphire!" Crystal yelled, causing the Hoenn girl to jump in surprise. "That's not how you talk to seniors!"

"… Sorry," Sapphire said as she lowered her head.

Once her senior turned away again, she glared at Gold and growled. Gold simply winked at her and signaled her to get going.

A few minutes later, Emerald casually walked towards Gold.

"How's it going?" he asked as he stood next to his senior.

"I'm still alive," Gold answered. "But hey. How come you're not getting punished?"

Emerald snickered as he stood up straighter, obviously proud of himself. "I never got caught. Crystal never saw me. Being short has its advantages. _Sometimes_."

"Good. Then you can spy on the target without causing suspicion. So, how's Sky Girl doing?"

"She thinks she won this round," Emerald answered. "She's chatting with Platinum and White right now. So I think we should ambush her when she least expects it."

"And I have a plan for that," Gold said with a grin. "First, you go to Crys and suggest to her that I apologize to Y by treating her to dinner. I will reluctantly agree. Then go over to Y and tell her to take advantage of this situation by picking an expensive restaurant and eating to her heart's content. Then, during dinner, when time is right, I'll sneak out, which then would force Y to pay for everything."

"Monstrous. Devious. _Genius_ ," Emerald said with a grin. "Alright, I'm on it."

Gold watched Emerald leave and focused on looking as innocent as possible. Soon, Crystal walked towards him, with Emerald and Y following.

"Gold, we finally decided how you're going to make up for all you've done," she said.

Gold let out a long sigh. "Alright, let's hear it. What else do I have to do? I'm already on my knees in front of my juniors, you know. So much for dignity, right?"

Crystal frowned a bit and tilted her head, as that thought had never occurred to her before. "… Right. You can stand up now. But anyways. I think the best solution is for you to treat Y to a dinner. She doesn't know this region, and she certainly wouldn't know which restaurant is the best. But you do. So treat her to a nice dinner."

Gold rose to his feet and brushed the dirt off of his knees. "Fine. I guess it's acceptable." He smiled a bit. "You want me to go on a dinner date with a junior."

Y crossed her arms and huffed. "Hmph. In your dreams. But I'll take my victory dinner, thank you. And I plan to enjoy it!"

"Alright, fine. … Look, there's a good place in Goldenrod City," Gold began, sounding very reluctant, all as planned. "It's close to the bike shop, if you know where that is."

"I can meet you in the Pokémon Center and you can take me there," Y said. "I'll see you there in… 6 hours. Don't keep me waiting."

Y soon left to rejoin Platinum and White so that she could tell them about what had transpired. Emerald soon left as well, leaving Gold alone with Crystal.

"… Sorry about that," Crystal said abruptly after a minute of silence.

"Hm? About what?" Gold asked.

"Forcing you to be on your knees and getting punished in front of the juniors," Crystal said. "It must've been degrading as a senior."

"Damn straight."

"But maybe if you _acted_ like a senior…" Crystal began with narrowed eyes. She shook her head though. "Never mind. I really hope that you begin to behave after this. If the dinner with Y goes off without any problems, that would be really great."

"Don't worry," Gold said, hiding his grin. "The dinner will be _great_. And hey, just to prove how great it was, I could take _you_ there tomorrow!"

"A dinner date, huh?" Crystal asked as she crossed her arms. "With you? I don't think so. Nice try."

"Damn. Well, I had to try. But whenever you change your mind, come find me." Gold gave her a wink before he turned away. He stopped after taking a couple of steps. "It could provide the additional _incentive_ to _behave_ around the juniors, you know?"

Crystal was about to retort when a thought suddenly flashed across her mind. Was that a… threat? Did Gold just threaten to continue bullying some of the juniors until she finally agreed to go out with him?

' _Gold… you jerk…_ '

…

7 hours later…

…

"And here we are, Sky Girl," Gold said as he stopped in front of a big restaurant.

"Wow, this place is pretty big," Y muttered as she looked around. "Look at all those people!"

"It's a big place because the food is so good," Gold said. "Otherwise, people wouldn't come. Now come on, let's go inside before all the tables are taken."

Gold opened the door and waited for Y to enter, trying to be on his best behavior. Y looked a little suspicious at first, but soon entered the restaurant. Gold grinned as his junior walked past him. Good… As expected, the girl was suspicious of him, but his _best behavior_ would quickly end her suspicions, opening herself up for the planned prank at the very end of the dinner.

Gold opened the next set of doors for her once again, and even held the chair out for her at the table. He deliberately chose her spot to be facing away from the entrance. Again, Y was initially suspicious, but she accepted the kind offer in much less time than before. She even took Gold's suggestions for the meal itself.

"It's a bit expensive, isn't it?" Y asked once the waiter left with the food order.

"Eh… kind of," Gold answered. "But for food this good, I say it's worth it."

"It's that good, huh? I can't wait," Y said with a smile.

The food arrived in about half an hour. Gold watched Y's expression as she took the first bite.

"How do you like it?"

"Oh, it's so good!" Y exclaimed. "Wow, this is better than anything I've ever had!"

"I'm glad you like it," Gold said. He watched his junior beginning to wolf down the food before he began to eat as well.

Within a few minutes, the two Dex Holders had finished their food. Y let out a long happy sigh as she put her hands over her stomach.

"Ah, that was so good," she said, looking super relaxed.

"Yeah. It's definitely one of the best places to eat," Gold said.

"If everything's this good, then I should let you guys pull pranks on me a lot more, if it means you'll take me to these places as an apology," Y said with a laugh. "Apology accepted, Gold."

"Thanks," Gold said, reaching for his cup of water. He timed his move carefully. There was a waiter coming closer to serve the table right behind him, so this had to be timed very carefully.

The waiter stood behind Gold as he received the order from the table. Gold paid close attention to his hearing, and once he determined that the waiter was about to turn around, he proceeded to take a drink from his cup, leaning as far back into the chair as possible. When the waiter turned around, he accidentally bumped Gold's head, causing the Johto Dex Holder to buckle forward, thus spilling the water onto himself.

"Oh, I am so terribly sorry, sir!" the waiter said apologetically.

"Hey, be careful, would you?" Gold said in between coughs, as he tried to wipe away the water with his free hand.

"Are you okay?" Y asked as she handed her senior all the spare napkins.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gold said between coughs still. He took the napkins and tried to clean up the mess made.

"If you would like, sir, there is a restroom over there where you can clean up," the waiter said, pointing near the entrance.

Gold looked down at his soaked shirt, and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I'll have to." He looked over at Y as he stood up. "I'll be right back."

"Yeah, sure," Y said without much thought.

Gold headed towards the restroom, but paused before he reached there. He looked back at the table, and saw Y doing what she could to clean up some of the mess. Good. She would not be able to see him.

With a quiet snicker, Gold headed towards the front doors of the restaurant and successfully snuck out, effectively ditching Y with the food bills.

"Revenge served," Gold said as he slowly walked away from the restaurant. He snickered as he imagined Y after she realizes what had happened.

"I knew it!" came a female voice from the side.

Gold jumped in surprise and looked over. He spotted Crystal storming towards him from the bike shop, almost as if she had been waiting here this whole time.

"Hey, Crys. What are you doing here?"

"I thought something was odd," Crystal said, almost yelling in anger. "I thought you had agreed to this plan a little too easily. So I followed. And just as I thought… Where's Y?"

"Uh… she's…"

"Still in the restaurant, right?" Crystal asked as she put her hands on her hips. "You ditched her. With the bills, presumably. You jerk. What is the matter with you?"

"I'm honestly surprised that you didn't see this coming, Crys," Gold said with a grin. "I mean, I just don't have the right _incentive_."

Crystal glared at him for almost a minute before she finally responded. "You know what, Gold? _FINE_ ," she said through clenched teeth. "If you behave and stop being a jerk to the juniors for _one week_ , I will go out with you."

"You got yourself a deal," Gold said with a laugh. He winked at her as he gave her enough money to pay for the food bill at the restaurant. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Crystal glared at Gold as he left, but once he went far enough, lightened her expression and smiled. "… But you'll need to behave as much as _Platinum_ for me to go out with you."

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 **And so ends the first chapter. I hope you liked it. Be sure to leave a review after reading!**

 **This short story is estimated to last about 3 to 4 chapters.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for taking literally over half of a YEAR for the second and final chapter. The original purpose of this short story had become completely pointless overall, so I didn't feel the need to work on it.**

 **This is the final chapter, as there is really no need for another 8 months for the third chapter. And the contents that would've been in this chapter have already appeared in my latest story, so to prevent a literal repeat, those scenes are skipped, which doesn't leave enough content for a three chapter story.**

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Chapter 2:

Week 1…

New Bark Town, 12 pm…

Gold stared at the calendar. A week of showing good behavior? Not a problem. All he had to do was just not pull off any pranks or do anything that's considered "mean", even if they were mostly harmless.

But… now what? If he wasn't going to prank the juniors, who were still in the Kanto-Johto area as if taunting him, what was there to do? He couldn't just leave on a vacation, since Crystal had to SEE his good behavior.

He looked around when he heard his Pokégear ringing. He found it lying on the table and picked it up. "Hey, Odd Boy. What's up?"

"Hey Gold," Emerald began. "I'm in the orphanage in Violet City, and… there's a golden opportunity here. Crystal is working in Pallet Town right now, and White is working as her substitute here in the orphanage. A perfect time for a certain prank we planned, don't you think?"

"Oh, that's great," Gold said with a grin. "But… Crys and I have a deal going on right now. I have to be on my _best behavior_ for a whole week and in return, Crys will go out with me on a dinner date. So for the week, I can't pull off any pranks or whatever."

"A whole week? That sucks. The juniors won't be around in Kanto/Johto for much longer."

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. There will be more opportunities. And besides, it's just for one week. All we have to do is endure for one single week. Crys will then go out with me as promised, undoubtedly fall for me, and I'll be able to get back to being myself and everything ill be fine."

"Uh-huh," Emerald said. "Sure. How are you so certain that Crystal would like you?"

"It's inevitable," Gold said smugly. "No girl can resist my charm for long."

"Right. So… until then, I guess I'll just pull off some pranks by myself?"

"Yeah. Can't let the juniors think that they're safe, now can we? So… what are you planning?"

"Well, White is in the orphanage. I know _everything_ about this place. It's pretty easy to set something up," Emerald said. "Like… what happens if you remove a certain cover in the ceiling of the "office" area."

"What happens?"

"Raining dust. There's a gap between the ceiling and the roof that's not really an attic. And the building is kind of old, so there are holes in the ceiling. We patched them up, but I can easily remove one or two so a pile of dust falls on whoever's underneath. Of course it's completely harmless, but… it'll freak out some of the sissy Dex Holders like White or Ruby."

"Oh, that sounds fun. Do it. And if you're able, wait until White takes a nap or something, and then… tie her hair strands together."

"All right. I know exactly what to do."

"Have fun," Gold said. "And take pictures if you can so I can see."

"Okay. And good luck to you for the week."

…

One week later, Violet City…

…

"Well Crys, the week is up, and it's time for you to hold up your side of the deal," Gold said as he sat down on the chair on the other side of Crystal's desk in her _office_ in the orphanage. "I've been on my best behavior as promised."

"So now I suppose it's time for me to _fall in love_ with you, huh?" Crystal asked.

"Come now, Crys, save it for the amazing dinner date," Gold said.

"… I was being sarcastic," Crystal said, her expression turning rigid. "Based on your performance in the past week, I can say that you… haven't changed at all. No girl can resist your charm, huh? You didn't learn anything. You _failed_ , Gold. And as per agreement, I am not going out with you."

"What? You're kidding me," Gold argued. "I didn't pull any pranks on anyone, I didn't even be _rude_ to them by your standards. I didn't do anything and you still say that I failed?"

"Getting Emerald to pull off pranks in your stead isn't "good behavior", Gold. And your attitude on this whole situation just proves how much of a jerk you are. You're not taking this seriously. What is this, a joke to you?"

"Wait… how did you know that I got Odd Boy to…"

"Did you forget? Emerald was here in the orphanage when he called you. There is _nothing_ anyone can do or say in here without me knowing about it."

Gold frowned, wondering what she meant, when he heard a slight creak in the floor from behind. He looked behind and noticed a shadow of a person moving from the other side of the door.

"The orphans…" Gold muttered.

"I told you to clean up your act for a week," Crystal said. "It's clear that you didn't change at all. You're still a jerk." She rose to her feet as if the discussion had ended. "You failed, Gold. So I'm not going out with you."

"Wait," Gold said hastily. "… Give me another chance."

"Why should I?"

Gold took a deep breath. "… I'm sorry, Crys. I promise I'll take this deal much more seriously from now on. So please give me another chance."

Crystal crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "… Fine," she said after a while. "I'll give you another chance. But you better be serious this time."

"Okay. I will. Thanks for giving me another chance."

Crystal watched Gold leave and then let out a short sigh. Week 1 had gone exactly as she thought. Gold didn't take the deal seriously and did not improve at all. But now, he'd probably take it a bit more seriously, albeit he would not improve enough to succeed. She'd fail him again. And he'd improve a bit more for the next week. And to guarantee that…

There was a knock on the door before it opened. Crystal smiled as Emerald entered her 'office'.

"You wanted to see me, Crystal?" Emerald asked as he approached the desk.

"Hi, Emerald. Yes, I did want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You did great, Emerald," Crystal said with an approving nod. "If it wasn't for you, I never would've known all the things Gold did that he's hiding from me. And because of that, he failed in the deal. Now he'll be trying a bit harder this week."

"Why'd you give him another chance?" Emerald asked. "I mean, he clearly failed the week-long test here. So… why let him try again?"

"While his behavior hasn't changed all that much, he's gotten just _slightly_ better," Crystal said. "So if I make him try again, he'll be _slightly_ better than last time, at the very least. And repeat that enough times, and he'll actually behave pretty well. Although there is a risk that he'll revert back to his old self the moment I let him succeed, and I have no intention of letting him succeed, but if this whole trial lasts long enough, it may change him permanently. At the very least, he won't be such a big jerk to the juniors anymore."

"And let's say, for the sake of possibilities, that Gold _does_ improve his behavior significantly, and is actually really nice to all the juniors, and demonstrates good manners. What then?"

"If he's being genuine about it, then he has fulfilled his part of the bargain, and I will have to fulfill my part." She let out a short smirk. "I won't fall in love with him though. Not bloody likely, anyways. But that wasn't the deal, now was it?"

Emerald nodded. "Okay, so… do I just keep doing what I've been doing?"

"Yes. Be sure to let me know if he does anything behind my back. And see if you can get him to prank the juniors once in a while so that he fails again, but avoid causing too much damage. Like what happened to White this week… avoid that. Maybe a handful of hair strands, maybe, but… it was way too many this time."

"You _want_ me to get Gold to pull more pranks?"

"Not all the time," Crystal answered. "Use your judgment. If Gold seems to be trying too hard to be on his best behavior, make sure he fails. The juniors will tell me if they fell for a prank, or if Gold has been a bit too rude."

Emerald tilted his head. "So you want him to improve, but want him to fail at the deal?"

"Yes. It hasn't been nearly long enough since Gold _tried_ to be on good behavior. If he succeeds this week or any time soon, he'll just revert back to being himself in no time. He has to fail for a _lot_ of weeks. That way, he tries to improve himself for a really long time, and in that time, such an effort would become a part of his nature. If this works, then I will not have to worry about him ever again."

Emerald nodded. "Okay. I get it. I'll make sure he fails."

…

Week 2…

…

Crystal finished reading Emerald's weekly progress report on Gold's behavior. According to Emerald, Gold has shown quite a bit of improvement this time, as if he was taking this deal very seriously. And with most of the junior Dex Holders gone back to their home regions, Emerald predicted a very high probability of Gold successfully filling his part of the bargain next week.

' _Too soon,_ ' Crystal thought with a frown. ' _If he succeeds next week, he'll just revert back to being himself… In that case…_ '

There was a knock on the door and Crystal set the report down on the table face-down. The moment Gold appeared in the doorway, Crystal couldn't help but let out a short smirk, as he looked comically serious.

"So… how did I do this week?" Gold asked cautiously as he sat down on a chair. "I think I did quite well this time."

"Perhaps," Crystal said. "The juniors haven't complained about you this week, meaning that you haven't done anything mean to them. But… you said a _lot_ of bad words this week."

"Wait, I have to watch my language too?!" Gold asked in shock.

"Duh. Of course! Haven't I always said that you were a bad example to the juniors? A part of that is your language. When I told you to improve your behavior, that doesn't just mean your actions. I meant for you to improve _everything_. That's how bad you are."

"Ah, sh*t," Gold muttered. He quickly realized that he said another bad word and tried to rephrase. "I mean… ah, poo."

Again, Crystal let out a short smirk. "Trying to censor yourself now won't do you any good. You failed again. While I don't expect you to behave as well as Platinum, but I expected you to be at least like… Ruby. But I guess that was too much for you."

Gold let out a long sigh. "… So… that's it, then?"

"If you're willing to accept defeat, then it's over."

Gold frowned a bit. "Wait. So I can try again?"

"Have you accepted defeat?" Crystal asked.

"No way. Never."

"Then I'll see how you improved next week."

"All right. I won't let you down this time. And this time, I'll watch my blanking language."

"Blanking?"

"I have to avoid using bad words, don't I?" Gold asked. "Just a way to avoid saying such words. Blank, blank, blank."

Crystal smirked again. "I suppose it's fine, but you sound as if someone wrote your script but then erased all the bad words so you have a literal blank space in your lines."

"If it works, it's fine by me. What the blank, I say." Gold rose to his feet. "Now then… I'll see you next week." He soon left Crystal's office, leaving her alone to ponder.

' _Dangerous…_ ' Crystal thought as she crossed her arms. ' _With the juniors gone back home, there's too strong of a probability that Gold will succeed… I'll have to ask him to take my place in the orphanage sometime next week. That way, the orphans can force him to fail…_ '

…

Several weeks later, Week 12…

…

Gold waved as Platinum rode off on her Rapidash, while holding onto her Eevee egg canister. He found it a bit surprising that Red and Blue have opted to give Platinum the Eevee egg, but then again… maybe that was obvious. Either way, Gold had no doubts that Platinum would be able to take care of the egg exceedingly well.

He crossed his arms and thought for a while, wondering if he had accidentally left out some critical detail. He couldn't think of anything he knew that he left out, but he still worried, as screwing up here may result in another failure in the weekly deal with Crystal. Even though it wasn't intentional, the Eevee egg was a big deal. Platinum had come to him for help and if he messed up… that was really bad.

After a long while, Gold let out a sigh and went back inside his house. He was pretty certain that he told Platinum everything and did his absolute best. Surely he wouldn't fail this week because of that. He already failed 11 times before for a variety of reasons. Crystal had asked him to help her in the orphanage, and… that went disastrous, as the hell raiser orphans were an absolute nightmare to handle. Then Crystal had asked him to help her with research work in Pallet Town that… also went disastrous and he ended up accidentally destroying a delicate yet expensive equipment. Then a certain freeloader invaded his house and his negative reaction led to a bit of a confrontation with Blue that caused him to fail in the deal again. And one case of actually succeeding in getting to the dinner date with Crystal but then botching it up there.

And on and on.

And to make things worse… Emerald seemed to be targeting him for pranks now. Gold had responded in kind once before and… that caused him to fail, so he couldn't respond to Emerald's pranks now. And with Silver freeloading in his house, it drastically increased the probability of failing the weekly deal.

But he wouldn't give up. Nope. Crystal was definitely worth the effort. And he had put in a lot of effort in the past 12 weeks, and he was determined to succeed, even if it took him another 12 weeks.

…

Week 20…

…

Gold held the restaurant door open for Crystal. This was it. His third time in succeeding in his part of the deal and thus getting Crystal to agree on going on the date. Now if he didn't fail here, he'd be able to show her a wonderful time. … Hopefully.

Crystal thanked Gold for holding the door open, although that was unnecessary, and waited for him to lead her towards the reserved table.

Currently, Gold was behaving better than she had thought. He hadn't pulled any pranks on anyone in a long while, he stopped using bad words (and replaced them all with "blank" which sounded… odd), and he was genuinely helpful now. He had helped Platinum with her Eevee egg, he had helped tremendously with setting up for Blue's birthday party, and he was proving to be far more helpful than most of the other Dex Holders. It was getting increasingly difficult to fail him as he wasn't doing anything wrong anymore.

Lately, Emerald reported that Gold had refused every prank opportunity. Either he finally caught on that the Hoenn Dex Holder was actually on Crystal's side from the very beginning, or he had changed permanently.

And now Crystal didn't know whether she should fulfill her part of the bargain, or just continue finding excuses to fail him. On one hand, she worried that Gold would stop trying to be wonderful once he succeeded. But on the other, she worried that he may actually give up and go back to being himself if he failed again and again.

"I must say, Gold," she began as she sat down on her seat. "I'm surprised that you're still trying to succeed in our little deal."

"You don't expect me to give up, do you?" Gold asked as he sat down as well. "Not especially after all this time."

"But still, 20 weeks of effort. All for just a date. Seems excessive."

Gold was about to say something but held his tongue. "… You're not going to make me say _that_. … I'll just say this. It's not excessive. Even if I fail for some mysterious reason today, I'll try again over and over."

"And what happens if you succeed?" Crystal asked.

"… That depends on you," Gold answered. "If you liked the experience, then we can try again. And if not, I'll say blank and either try again or think of something else."

"You really are serious about this, aren't you?"

"You told me to take this more seriously. And I am."

Crystal lightly bit her lower lip. ' _… What now? If I let him succeed… nothing really happens. If he changed this much, he likely won't revert to being himself for a long while. And even if I fail him again, he won't really improve anymore since there's nothing more he can do better._ ' She heard her Pokégear vibrate and noticed that she just got a message from someone. She took it out of her bag and noticed that Emerald had sent her a message.

"Work stuff?" Gold asked.

"Yeah. You know how it is," Crystal lied as she read Emerald's message.

" _Approaching target."_

Crystal frowned a bit, as the message sounded as if she had hired him to assassinate someone. ' _Hmm… Emerald is coming to sabotage this dinner date and make Gold fail again. But… I don't know if I want him to fail again. What now?_ '

"Ah, there's the waiter, time to order," Gold said as he looked past Crystal.

Crystal looked behind her and saw the waiter coming with the menus and some hot tea on a large plate. She looked at her Pokégear again as she received another message.

" _Move away from the waiter."_

Crystal realized what was going to happen and inched away from the waiter as he approached the table. Just as the waiter was about to serve some tea, something hit him in the back of the knee, forcing him to stumble. The teapot slid off of the plate and fell directly onto Gold.

"Ah! Damn it!" Gold cried out as he recoiled from the hot tea spilling onto him. To his credit, he didn't express anger or reacted in any violent or explosive manner, and instead focused on trying to minimize the damage. He then realized that he had just said a word that he probably should not have said and looked over at Crystal. "I mean… ah, blank. … It's too late, isn't it?"

' _Oh well. Another week can't be that bad._ ' Crystal smiled apologetically and nodded. "Yeah…" She reached over and helped him wipe off the hot tea as much as possible. "So close, Gold. So very, very close. In fact, if you hadn't said that, you would've been just absolutely perfect. Normally, I wouldn't be this picky, but… ah, so close to perfection. I want to see that happen, you know?"

"Ah, blank. Almost had you in a full date. … So… can I try again?"

"Would you like to?

"Of course."

"Then, sure. I'll see you next week, Gold," Crystal said as she rose to her feet. "I really look forward to seeing how much you've improved. Twenty-first time's the charm, right?"

"Yeah. I'll try to surprise you even more…"

"I'm so terribly sorry, sir," the waiter said as he gave Gold all the available napkins.

"It's all right," Gold said with a sigh. "It's just wet clothes, burned skin, and another week of waiting." He smirked a bit as he watched Crystal walking away in the distance. "And so the cycle begins again. … Oh well."

* * *

 **And the reasoning of the title appears. The INFINITE Cycle. It's a while-loop with a condition that'll never be met, so the function never ends, unless the system recognizes the infinite loop and crashes. But the system is stubborn, so it won't crash.**


End file.
